Timbers anniversary date has new significance as landmark partnership is reached between USL Pro and MLS

View full sizeThe Portland Timbers Reserve matches have become a very popular option for fans wanting to see quality soccer but is more low key than the First Team matches. With the recent announcement that MLS is working with USL Pro to establish a joint reserve league, the star quality and number of matches could eventually increase.Jennifer Kesgard, community blogger

For
Timbers fans, they might remember the debacle that was the 2010 season where
there was infighting amongst the USL and a resurrected
NASL that wanted to begin play in 2010.
Because there were issues financially and structurally with both setups,
the United States Soccer Federation took the unusual step of sanctioning a
joint league between clubs loyal to the USL (such as the Timbers) and those
wanting to establish a different approach.
When the 2010 season was completed and Portland
and Vancouver left for MLS with Montreal joining them
after 2011, the NASL applied for sanctioning at the second level within the American
soccer pyramid. USL decided to scrap
the top division at that time and focus upon their second division and
extremely successful Premier Developmental League, eventually creating a new
league called USL Pro that would become the third level within the pyramid. The
basic tenet of the dispute was the differing approaches to building a
successful infrastructure – USL management prefers a slow, measured, regional
approach while NASL wanted to go bigger and bolder with expansion plans.

While
the NASL has remained viable and is now adding additional franchises in 2013
(the New York Cosmos) with plans for three more, they've also suffered with
some franchise defections as the Puerto Rico Islanders and Rochester Rhinos
left the NASL to move back to USL. The USL Pro League has actually gained
some strength after being mostly concentrated in the East and Southern parts of
the United States, and with the addition of teams in Phoenix,
AZ in 2013 and Sacramento, CA
in 2014 is moving towards creating the national structure with a regional feel
that is a trademark of the USL. With MLS
firmly entrenched as the top flight league in the pyramid, the question has
always been whether the different leagues would ever enter into an associated
agreement officially relating to players.
While there have been plenty of players that have moved within the
various leagues over the years and some clubs have developed informal
relationships regarding player loans and transfers, there's never been anything
concrete until now. Starting in 2013, MLS
will start to integrate its Reserve Division within the existing framework
of the
USL Pro League

View full sizeIf the full USL Pro and MLS integration occurs over the next few seasons, this scene taken from the old USL First Division days between Portland and Rochester could once again become a regular event.The Offside

Starting
this year, MLS clubs will be permitted to sign affiliation agreements with USL
Pro teams similar to those common in other sports; however, affiliation is not
mandatory. Both sides can set the terms
of the agreement. In 2013, there will be
four partnerships will be in place or are rumored to be forthcoming: Sporting
Kansas City and Orlando City, New England and Rochester Rhinos, D.C. United and
the Richmond Kickers and the Philadelphia Union and Harrisburg City Islanders. Each of those four MLS clubs will send a
minimum of four players on season-long loans to their USL affiliate, giving
them the chance to compete regularly in a professional environment instead of
sitting on a bench or waiting playing time in Open Cup matches or
friendlies. The agreement does allow for
more than four players to be loaned, as the official number will be up to the
individual teams.

The
remaining 15 MLS clubs will field squads in the MLS reserve league and can
still, on a case-by-case basis, arrange loans to USL Pro for their players.
Twelve of those 15 MLS teams will augment their reserve league schedule with a
home-and-home series against a USL Pro opponent that will count in the
standings of both circuits (meaning the four USL Pro teams with MLS affiliates
in 2013 will play the reserve team of a different MLS club). Based upon comments on social media and the
official announcement of the 2013 MLS Pro schedule, the
Portland Timbers will field their reserve side for 2013 and will play the newly
created VSI Tampa Bay FC as part of the agreement.

The
advantages to MLS and USL are significant.
USL can use their agreements to leverage getting young, talented players
to appear in league matches while sharing the costs and coaching with another
club. Once the integrated structure is fully completed, the USL Pro will have a
full national footprint, similar to their setup in the PDL. For MLS, the agreement gives them access to
clubs where they can send players needing consistent playing time in regular
game conditions under the tutelage of other coaches. Instead of relying upon a sporadic 10 match
Reserve schedule that fits into holes within the existing MLS schedule, they
can get young players more matches on a regular basis. Considering that MLS also hasn't had the best
track record of talent development even with recent pushes by member clubs to
establish academies and sign Home Grown Players, this gives them a developing
system to integrate within. As some
outlets have put it, this
is the ideal of two sides working out an agreement that provides mutual benefit
to both groups. While there is still
much left to determine, it's a great starting point for sure.

The
real question in all of this is where this leaves the NASL, especially since
this seems to bypass them as an outlet for talent. In comments made by NASL commissioner Bill
Peterson, they're not interested in being a player development league but
rather create a league where "teams
are there to win it." According to a
post on the Score website, many believe that the truest path for franchises to
jump to MLS now is to establish a solid track record and NASL offers a easier
path. Many
NASL officials also believe that MLS Commissioner Don Garber is looking at
potential markets for expansion beyond the rumored 20 team threshold that
has long been thought of as the most MLS could handle without significantly
affecting the product. As a Timbers fan
from back in the day, there were plenty of franchises there one minute and gone
(California Victory anyone), so there's always peril when it comes to ventures
like this. However, I think the agreement is a small, but extremely noteworthy
moment in creating a solid player development structure that soccer desperately
needs.